Restoring the name: how Ukraine identifies its fallen and brings them home
Following exchanges with Russia, Ukraine regularly receives the bodies of fallen soldiers, often by the hundreds. The process of identifying them can take weeks, relying on DNA testing, forensic databases, and biological samples provided by family members. Over the past year alone, Ukraine has successfully identified more than 8,500 bodies. Still, thousands remain unnamed—awaiting the moment when their identity can be confirmed, and their families can finally say goodbye. Frontliner explains how Ukraine’s system for identifying the fallen has evolved.
War takes more than just lives — it often robs families of the chance to say goodbye. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, thousands of Ukrainian soldiers have been buried without names, without photographs, and without confirmed dates of death. Every week, dozens of bodies are returned from temporarily occupied territories as part of exchanges with Russia — in zinc coffins, in sealed bags, marked only as “unknown.” In Ukraine, careful and often painful work continues to restore each fallen defender’s name and to give families closure instead of uncertainty.
Body – Sample – System: how identification works
In June 2025 alone, Ukraine carried out two large-scale exchanges and recovered over 2,400 bodies. Some had been listed as missing for months. The majority arrived unidentified.
The identification process follows a precise sequence, where there is no room for haste. It begins with transportation to a regional forensic medical bureau. From there, experts conduct examinations, collect DNA samples, analyze genetic profiles, and compare them to databases of relatives of missing persons. In 2024, Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs carried out more than 74,000 genetic examinations across nearly 151,000 biological samples, including bodies, body fragments, and personal belongings — an average of over 1,500 forensic tests each week.
New laboratories and an expanding DNA database: what has changed in three years
Before 2022, Ukraine had only nine laboratories capable of conducting DNA analysis for identification purposes. Today, there are 27 — nearly one in every region. The number of forensic experts has more than doubled, from 159 to 349. This growing infrastructure is critical: the more capacity these labs have, the more families can receive answers. According to official data, since the start of the full-scale invasion, over 8,500 bodies have been identified — people who had no documents or whose remains were too damaged for visual recognition.
But the speed of identification depends not only on technology or specialists. One key factor is the availability of reference DNA samples from relatives. The more such samples stored in the national database, the higher the chances of making a timely match. Often, a genetic match is the only way to recover a name — when DNA from remains aligns with a sample given by a relative who prepared for the worst. This cooperation has made it possible to identify even those who died in the earliest months of the war and remain unnamed to this day.
In search of names: the work doesn’t stop
Some bodies remain unidentified for months. They are kept in cold storage, housed in specialized facilities within forensic bureaus. As of 2024, there were at least 19 such facilities in Ukraine’s Ministry of Internal Affairs system. In some cases, identification takes a week; in others, it may take months. But no case is ever closed as long as there’s still a chance to restore a name.
Russia often returns bodies without names and without accompanying documentation. This places the full burden of identification on Ukrainian forensic teams, from the initial examination to the final confirmation of identity. One of the most difficult challenges: fragmented remains. In some cases, only parts of a body are returned.
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Created with the support of the Association of Independent Regional Publishers of Ukraine and Amediastiftelsen as part of the Regional Media Support Hub project. The authors’ views do not necessarily coincide with the official position of the partners.
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